Personal Statement:

I am a social historian of 19th and 20th century Africa with specific interests in theories and practices of development and global commodity exchange. My current research examines the history of co-operative societies in Ghana from the 1930s to the present day. Tracing the history of these co-operatives not only highlights an important social and economic movement in Ghana during the colonial and post-colonial era, but also reveals a larger transnational history of similar co-operative movements taking place across the British Empire and other parts of the global south beginning in the early 1900s. Studying the history of these co-operatives, both in Ghana and beyond, allows me to make several important interventions. in the history of development, North/South agricultural commodity trade, consumer culture, and most importantly local forms of resistance among colonized people groups.

Here are some of the key question I ask:

How are current discourses of development, such as fair-trade co-operative societies, linked with similar discourses from the colonial-era? And does the continued reliance on colonial methods of commodity exchange limit our ability to create more dynamic and mutually beneficial forms of development and trade?

How have local populations altered general discourses of development, primarily created in Western Europe and the United States, to resist or alter colonial relationships in their favor?

Why do people across the world, both in the global north and south, often participate in development projects regardless of major economic gains? What role do utopian imaginations play in longterm commitment and participation in these movements? And how do the imagined outcomes of participation in such movements vary between farmers, traders, manufacturers and consumers who buy into such methods of commodity exchange?

Overall this study addresses the ethics of consumer capitalism, questions regarding the structure of international commodity exchange, and a rethinking of the very language used to describe the world in terms of comparative development.

Teaching Fields:

Modern Africa

World History

History of Development

Comparative Race and Ethnicity

Comparative Genocide

Courses Taught:

Instructor of Record:

Crafton Hills Community College: History 171 World Civilizations Since 1500CE – Spring 2017

Crafton Hills Community College: History 150 Latin American History – Spring 2017

Crafton Hills Community College: History 101 History of the United States 1865 to the Present – Fall 2016